3 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Leaders with more self-accurate ratings have been found to be more effective and more successful than those leaders with self-evaluations that are not aligned with others (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Bass & Yammarino, 1991). Several reports from the 1980's suggest that women underrate their own performance as leaders and managers (Parsons, Meece, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982; LaNoue & Curtis, 1985, Meehan & Overton, 1986 as cited in Van Velsor, Taylor, & Leslie, 1993; Beyer, 1990) despite the lack of specific data to substantiate these inferences. The conclusion that others likely draw from these repeated messages is that female leaders have poor self-awareness, and therefore are less effectiveWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

4 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5This study examined contemporary data to test whether female leaders working in today's business environment under-rated their own performance as leaders. Ex Post Facto research using data from an existing, large database was used to investigate the relationships of female leaders' self-assessment and the assessments of other raters (including direct reports, peers, managers and others). The database was analyzed to test whether female leaders under-rated, over-rated, or were in-agreement with how others rated their leadership skills and behaviors using the High Impact Leadership Model™ (Linkage, 2003).DedicationWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

5 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The literature suggests that it is common knowledge that women are more likely to underrate their managerial abilities and leadership competencies than men. However, there is no direct evidence or study that reports specific data to substantiate this finding. There is only one study that has noted that a subgroup of ten female managers tended to rate themselves lower than their supervisors rated them, and lower than male managers rated themselves (p< 0.06) (Wohlers & London, 1989).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

6 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Another study found that women in mixed-sex situations not only had a lowered expectation than men about their performance on assigned tasks, but they in fact did perform worse. However, in same sex or when performing an assigned task alone, women’s expectations and performance did not differ from men’s (LaNoue & Curtis, 1985). In a report published in 1990, more than a decade ago, women consistently underestimated their performance on masculine-type managerial tasks (Beyer, 1990).An obvious issue worth further exploration is an evaluation of whether female leaders underrate their performance as leaders (e.g. confirming that they lack self-awareness), or whether the common belief is in fact false.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

7 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5There has been one study that suggests that women are not more likely to underrate their own skills on measures of leadership competency (Van Velsor, Taylor & Leslie, 1993). In this study, however, only ratings from direct reports were analyzed for congruence. These authors suggest that these results “…reflect a growing comfort among women with the sex role appropriateness of managerial roles [that] may reflect the greater self-confidence of women who tend to enter managerial jobs” (p 259). These authors conclude that their research indicates “…we should no longer assume that women’s inclination is to underrate” (p 259). Data from this study was collected from a random sample of 816 managers (451 females, 170 males, gender not reported for 195) who had completed a multi-rater assessment instrument prior to 1990 and an additional 79 male and female (no gender distribution data provided) hospital administrators who completed the instrument in The study was published in 1993, yet subsequent literature has continued to infer the common belief that women underrate themselves as leaders.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

8 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5In 2003, results from an annual survey of executive education reported that 134 companies from 20 nations reported enrolling more than 21,000 employees in leadership programs, at a cost of $210 million (Merritt, 2003). Behavioral feedback comparing the ratings from peers, direct reports and managers to self-ratings has become increasingly popular (commonly referred to as 360-degree feedback), and frequently is a standard practice in leadership training programs. It is felt that having diverse information from multiple raters may help the leader become more aware of how others view their performance as a leader, and that improved self-awareness may lead to improved leader performance and effectiveness (Bass & Yammarino, 1991; Atwater & Yammarino, 1992).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

9 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Shortly after the introduction and adoption of 360-degree assessments in mid­1980, researchers began exploring congruence of self-assessment and other-rater agreement (Bass & Yammarino, 1991; Atwater & Yammarino, 1992). In these studies, self-aware leaders were defined as those whose self-ratings of their leadership were in agreement with the ratings of others. These researchers found that self-awareness acts as a moderator of leadership behavior performance. They conclude that "self-aware individuals appear to be using the information they receive about their leadership to improve their overall performance ratings" (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992, p. 159). Furthermore, such leaders were rated as more transformational, and thus able to influence best performance of their followers.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

10 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Additionally, various research studies from the 1980's infer that there are gender differences in congruence of self versus other assessments based on data that found women more often display learned helplessness (Parsons, Meece, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982) and they underrate their performance on gender-specific tasks (Beyer, 1990). Other data suggests that women underrate their performance because they attribute success to external forces and their effort rather than to their own skills (Meehan & Overton, 1986 as cited in Van Velsor, Taylor, & Leslie, 1993). There is also evidence that suggests that women underrate their performance when they are involved in mixed-sex or opposite sex performance situations (LaNoue & Curtis, 1985). However, none of these studies explicitly evaluated leadership behaviors, skills or performance. Thus, there is no direct evidence that women underrate themselves on leadership behavior or skills, yet these and other studies are frequently positioned in various research papers in the literature as sound evidence that such data exists.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

11 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The theoretical conceptual model for the problem to be studied focuses on whether female leaders have good self-awareness or not of their leadership skills and behaviors, and thus are more or less effective leaders (Figure 1, Model A and B, respectively). If they lack self-awareness, as suggested by the literature, then this may contribute to lack of advancement to more senior positions. However, if they do not lack self-awareness as leaders, then other yet to be determined factors, may be contributing to the lack of advancement. Stereotypical bias may be a factor (e.g. Figure 1, model B).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

12 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Model A Model BFailure toadvance to more seniorpositionsUnknown Moderator Good selfawareness as a leaderPoor selfawareness as aFailure to leaderadvance to moresenior positionsPoor performanceas a leader Good performance as a leaderWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

13 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leaders' self-ratings and other-raters' rating of the leaders by examining contemporary, archived 360­degree feedback data of female leaders' competencies and skills. An evaluation of this relationship may provide further insight regarding whether female leaders are in-agreement or not with how others perceive their leadership, and thus may provide information about the extent of self-awareness by female leaders from a variety of business settings. Good self-awareness, for purposes of this research, is defined as being in agreement with other raters (i.e., direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others) regarding their own leadership competencies and skills. Alternatively, these leaders may under-rate or over-rate their leadership competencies and skills compared to others, suggesting that female leaders have poor self-awareness.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

14 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Stereo-typical gender roles have been suggested to have pervasive effects on leadership perception resulting in women not typically being perceived as leaders (Brown & Geis, 1984; Butler & Geis, 1990; Eagly et al., 1992 all cited in Malloy & Janowski, 1992). It is important to understand if women leaders themselves have a clear perception of their own leadership competency and performance, and the way that others perceive their leadership ability (referred to as metaperception by Malloy & Janowski, 1992). Research suggests that accurate self-reports (i.e. congruence with the perception of others) relate to traits that are deemed important to be an effective leader. Traits such as self-esteem (Farh & Dobbins, 1989), private self-consciousness (Gibbons, 1983; Nasby, 1989), intelligence, achievement status, and locus of control (Mabe & West, 1982)” (Van Velsor, Taylor, & Leslie, 1993) are examples of traits frequently associated with effective leaders.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

15 It has been suggested that negative attitudes stemming from perceived violations of traditional female roles (homemakers instead of business leaders) may contribute to hardships that women managers continue to face in the workplace (Moore, Grunberg, & Greenberg, 2004). Negative based beliefs or judgments about female leaders’ roles by direct reports, peers and managers may result in metaperception incongruence. Further, if women underestimate their own leadership competencies, this may contribute to the lack of advancement of women to more senior leadership positions.Lastly, despite improved opportunities for women in management, therecontinues to be a persistence gender leadership imbalance favoring male leaders for many business sectors (Eagly, Makhijani & Klonsky, 1992; MacRae, 2005; Ryan & Haslam, 2007). Academic leadership, for example, continues to be a business sector with marked sex inequality favoring male leaders versus female leaders (Ellemers, van den Heuvel, de Gilder, Maass & Bonvini, 2004; Katila & Meriläinen, 1999). Other industries have reported a similar scenario (Maher, 1999).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

16 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Ho1: There is no difference between female leaders and other-raters in ratings of overall leadership (combination of leadership competency and skill ratings).Question 1: Do female leaders rate their overall leadership competency and skill differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others rate their overall leadership as evaluated by the combination of their competencies and skills?Ho2: There is no difference between female leaders and other-raters in ratings of leadership competency.Question 2: Do female leaders rate their leadership competency differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others rate their leadership competency?Ho3: There is no difference between female leaders and other-raters in ratings of leadership skills.Question 3: Do female leaders rate their leadership skill differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others rate their leadership skill?And, lastly, because different environmental factors may have a strong influence on any leader within a given environment, an exploratory analysis of female leaders from different business sectors was performed. This led to the final hypothesis and question:Ho4: There is no difference between female leaders from different business sectors and other-raters in ratings of overall leadership (combination of leadership competency and skill).Question 4: Do female leaders from different business sectors rate their overall leadership competency and skill differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others rate their overall leadership as evaluated by the combination of their competencies and skills?Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

17 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The primary nature of the study was Ex Post Facto research to investigate the relationships of female leaders’ self-assessment of their leadership competencies and skills, and the assessments of other-raters by examination of an existing database. The database was analyzed to test whether female leaders rate in agreement, under-rate, or over-rate their leadership as compared to assessments by other-raters (i.e., direct reports, peers and managers) as related to five leadership competencies (focus drive, emotional intelligence, trusted influence, conceptual thinking, and systems thinking) and five leadership skills (change management, coaching/mentoring, communication, negotiation, and problem solving) that comprise the High Impact Leadership Model™ (Linkage, 2003). This research also explored the relationship of the congruence of 360-degree rater evaluations for female leaders from different business sectors. The data analyzed in this study was collected using the second revision of the Leadership Assessment Inventory (LAI) instrument from leaders who participated in leadership development training seminars conducted by Linkage from late 2001 through 2006Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

18 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Linkage is a for-profit, global organizational development company that specializes in leadership development (http://www.linkageinc.com/ company/about_us.aspx). The company was founded in 1988 and to date more than 100,000 leaders and managers have attended Linkage development training programs. The headquarters for Linkage is in Burlington, Massachusetts. Regional offices are located in Minneapolis, Atlanta, San Francisco, Brussels, Bucharest, Johannesburg, London, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

19 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Leadership is defined as “…a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2004, p. 3). Leadership competencies are defined as focused drive, emotional intelligence, trusted influence, conceptual thinking, and systems thinking (Linkage, 2003).Focused drive is defined as "the capability of focusing on a goal and harnessing your energy in order to meet that goal – a balance between focus and drive" (Linkage, 2003, p. 7).Focus is defined as "the ability to identify an important goal or vision and to channel efforts at specific targets that support that goal/vision" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Drive is defined as "the ability to persevere, sacrifice (when necessary), and expend high degrees of energy to reach high levels of performance” (Linkage, 2003,p. 9).Emotional intelligence is defined as "the capability of understanding and mastering your emotions (and those of others) in a way that instills confidence – a balance between perception and emotional maturity" (Linkage, 2003, p. 7).Perception is defined as "the ability to read the emotions and thoughts of others through the use of insight and analytical skills” (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Emotional maturity is defined as "the ability to master emotions and cope with stress in a way that instills confidence, motivates, and enhances group effectiveness" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Trusted influence is defined as "the capability of evoking trust from others and placing trust in others to enable them to succeed – a balance between commitment and empowerment" (Linkage, 2003, p. 7).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

20 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Commitment is defined as "the ability to evoke trust from others by keeping commitments, adhering to high ethical standards and principles, and building shared goals/values" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Empowerment is defined as "the ability to help others reach higher levels of performance through trust, delegation, participation, and coaching" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Conceptual thinking is defined as "the capability of conceiving and selecting innovative strategies and ideas for your organization – a balance between innovation and big picture thinking" (Linkage, 2003, p. 7).Innovation is defined as "the ability to create/enhance ideas, products, and services that lead to bottom line success" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Big picture thinking is defined as "the ability to see all of the forces, events, entities, and people involved in the situation at hand" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9).Systems thinking is defined as "the capability of connecting processes, events, and structures – a balance between process orientation and mental discipline" (Linkage, 2003, p. 7).Process orientation is defined as "the ability to increase overall learning and performance by designing, implementing, and/or connecting processes" (Linkage, 2003,p. 9). Mental discipline is defined as "the ability to sort through ambiguity and alternatives in a way that crystallizes and puts ideas into action" (Linkage, 2003, p. 9). Leadership skills are defined as change management, coaching/mentoring, communication, negotiation, and problem solving (Linkage, 2003)Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

21 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Change management is defined as "the skill of adapting to and thriving in times of internal and external change" (Linkage, 2003, p. 6).Coaching/mentoring is defined as "the skill of mastering a comfortable coaching style and using it strategically to improve performance" (Linkage, 2003, p. 6).Communication is defined as "the skill of communicating and relating to a broad range of people internally and externally" (Linkage, 2003, p. 6).Negotiation is defined as "the skill of arriving at and reaching understanding and agreements with a broad range of people, internally and externally" (Linkage, 2003, p. 6).Problem solving is defined as "the skill of employing analytical abilities, pragmatism, and other tools to resolve complex problems in a variety of contexts" (Linkage, 2003, p. 6).360-degree feedback is defined as a method whereby a person is provided with feedback from others such as direct reports, peers and/or managers regarding their performance.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

22 Assumptions and Limitations Some limitations …Data were analyzed from individuals who participated in a leadership development conference that included the 360 degree assessment of the leader. It is assumed, but cannot be confirmed, that individuals participating in the conference already had some experience as a leader and were not in the conference to learn how to become a leader and therefore the ratings were obtained from raters who based their assessment on having observed and/or been led by the leader. By nature, 360-degree feedback relies on subjective information gathered at a single point in time from respondents who are expressing their opinion, attitude, experience, expectation and/or observations about the competencies of the person being rated. Thus, whatever environmental and/or other factors that are also occurring at that point in time may influence the feedback.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

23 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Further, the study relied on the leader, as well as his/her direct reports, peers, managers and non-designated others to report on the leader’s behavior. It is not known to what extent the relationship that the raters have with the leader may influence the subjective rating (e.g. duration of the relationship).This study was limited to those leaders who completed the LAI instrument and had at least one subordinate, peer, manager and/or other person rates them on the same instrument. There were no demographic data available for the leaders or raters such as gender, age, race or culture. The gender for the leaders analyzed in this study was empirically assigned based on the first name of the leader and an assumption of the gender that name (e.g. Mary was deemed female, Mike was deemed male) based on common Anglo-American name-gender assignment. Gender assignments were made where possible. In some instances, it was not possible to assign gender due to the possibility that the person could be male or female based on their first name (e.g., Pat, Dana). In such instances, the data were excluded from the population sample.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

24 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Another limitation of this study was that no information was available on the number of people the leader directed overall. Nor was data available regarding the number of years that the leader had been in a leadership role overall or specifically in their current role at the time of completion of the LAI instrument. Also, educational training and background of the leader was not available. No information regarding the leaders specific relationship with the raters was available. For instance, the duration of time of any relationship was not known.There was no specific information available on the name, size or sector of the company for whom the leader or raters worked. In other words, it was not clear if the raters were current or previous direct reports, peers and/or managers for the leader since the leader themselves designated to whom the other-rater requests were distributed. An attempt has been made to determine the business sector in which the leader worked at the time they completed the LAI based on information from the leaders address. Information available from the address (i.e., any apparent business named sign from their address) was used to assign a business sector category. For example, if the address was then it was assumed that the leader worked for the company ‘Boeing’, which was assumed to be a part of the business sector ‘Aerospace/Defense’ (www.valueline.com/lookup/current.aspx). addresses that referenced common web browsers, such as or or other names that were not easily confirmed as businesses were not categorized. Thus, the study is limited in assuming that the information from the address accurately reflects the business sector for that leader.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

25 Trait Approach Leadership Theories These theories put forth that leaders are born with unique characteristics that qualify them to serve as leaders. This is in contrast to the viewpoint that one can learn to become a leader. The trait theory is easy to conceptualize by simple notation of some of the dominant traits/characteristics of leadersGenerally, the major leadership traits of leaders that have been identified include intelligence, alertness, insight, responsibility, initiative, persistence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991; Kornør & Nordvik, 2004; Nordvik & Brovold, 1998; Stogdill, 1948 as cited in Northouse, 2004;).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

26 Skills Approach Leadership Theories It is important to acknowledge that the focus of these trait theories is solely on the leader and not on the followers or the situation/context where/when the leadership occurs. A criticism is that these theories were generated potentially from a biased view in that the vast majority of studies conducted to identify leadership traits/characteristics were performed in the United States (US) of America public businesses, which were heavily dominated by a Caucasian, male employee base.Skills Approach Leadership TheoriesLeadership skills have also been studied directly or indirectly for years. The skills approach was first suggested by Katz (1955). He proposed that certain knowledge, abilities, and behaviors, that can be developed (versus are innate), are needed for an administrator to be effective. He defined these skills broadly as “technical, human and conceptual” (Katz, 1955, p. 42). Subsequently, a vast research literature now forms the skills-based model of leadership (Mumford, et al, 2000) and has helped established leadership as something that can be learned and/or further developed. This viewpoint is in contrast to the trait theorists who do not espouse leadership as something that can be learned.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

27 Situational Leadership Theories These theories support the basic notation that strategic deployment of specific skills/talents of a leader can be more or less effective when environmental factors are taken into account. In other words, a leader's style can be highly variable depending on the situation and the leader’s emotions. This theory suggests that leaders adapt their style to address needs of a given follower based on how ready and willing the follower is to performing required tasks. Thus, the leader takes into account the competence and the motivations of followers in deciding the best way to deploy their own leadership skills. These situational factors are important dimensions of leader-member relations (e.g. group atmosphere, members’ attitudes toward the leader, etc.). Other factors such as the task-structure (routine versus novel) and positional power of the leader may also influence the leader’s style.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

28 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5These theorists then went on to develop a new model that they called The Life Cycle Theory of Leadership. The theory’s name was inspired by the model of changes in parenting styles that occurs as children progress from infancy to adulthood. They felt that the same logic held true for manager’s who were leading a range of workers including the inexperienced new worker, the developing worker, and the experienced worker (Hersey, 1996). As the level of the maturity (i.e., relative independence, ability to take responsibility and self-achievement motivation) of the follower continues to increase, appropriate leader behavior is less structure (task) and less socio-emotional support (relationship). Thus, as the maturity of the follower increases, the leader’s behavior moves from high task plus low relationship, to high task plus high relationship, to low task plus high relationship, and finally to low task plus low relationship.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

29 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5It wasn’t until 1972 that these researchers began referring to this theory as Situational Leadership instead of Life-Cycle Theory of Leadership. Others adapted the theory and developed the managerial grid as an instructional tool used in organization and management training courses (Blake & Mouton as cited in Hersey & Blanchard, 1996). The tool creates a 2x2 grid with interfaces for high/low relationship behavior of the leader against high/low task behavior of the leader. The interfacing squares are referred to as ‘telling, selling, participating and delegating’ (Northouse, 2004). Depending on the development level of a follower (i.e. their maturity), it is suggested that leaders will adopt one of these leadership styles.The theory has been evaluated in many studies. One study evaluated 105 health care institution nursing staff (Norris & Vecchio, 1992). The study setting has practical relevance to the findings since there was an established supervisor-subordinate hierarchy of authority for performance appraisal, despite the professional level status of these employees. Like several other prior studies, results from this study provided only mixed support for this theory. The information obtained from the nursing staff suggested a level of maturity that did not match up well with the chosen situational leadership style as suggested by the nursing supervisor staff. Despite these and others with similar mixed findings, situational leadership continues to be popular in organizational business settings and is, in the eyes of many, an optimal style of supervision (Norris & Vecchio, 1992)Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

30 Transformational Leadership TheoryThe essence of transformational leadership is the process by which the leader changes and transforms individuals through their actions and behaviors (Bass 1999; Northouse, 2004). This leadership theory espouses that the emotions, values, ethics, standard and long-term goals of the leader are focused on the follower in a way that is considerate of the followers motives and needs (Bass, 1999). The theory proposes that there is an exceptional influence that a leader can espouse that motivates followers to accomplish more than what is expected of them. Leaders’ actions rely on the effective use of six-factors including: a) charisma/inspiration, b) intellectual stimulation, c) individualized consideration, d) contingent reward, e) management-by-exception, and f) laissez-faire leadership (Avolio, Bass & Jung, 1999). As a result of the leaders’ behaviors, followers want to identify with the leader and the vision espoused. Further, as a result, there is an enhanced commitment, more involvement by followers, loyalty and greater performance. Thus, transformational leadership “is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals, and includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings” (Northouse, 2004, p. 169).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

31 Emotional Intelligence Leadership TheoryEmotional Intelligence (EI) has been described as the assortment of non-cognitive skills that afford individuals the means to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures (Robbins, 2003, p. 111). The first empirical study of EI (and the first publication that explicitly used this terminology) examined people’s abilities to identify emotions in faces, abstract designs and colors (Mayer, DiPaolo, & Salovey, 1990). These researchers also proposed a framework for EI that they defined as “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189). Further, EI has been proposed as another dimension of intelligence, complimentary to intellect (defined as “the ability to carry on abstract thinking”) and social intelligence (defined as “the ability to understand and manage people”) (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189). Gardner in 1983 wrote about personal intelligence, which includes knowledge about the self and others, and his theories relate closely to what Salovey and Mayer call EI (as cited in Salovey & Mayer, 1990). As Salovey and Mayer (1990) describe it emotional intelligence is the recognition and use of emotional states of self and others to resolve problems and control behavior.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

32 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5There are a few similarities between the theories discussed above. First, most have a core component that addresses a dimension pertaining to the follower. The core of situational leadership, for instance, is to be cognizant of the needs of followers in a particular circumstance, and then adapt leadership behavior to meet their needs. Likewise, transformational leadership requires assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. And lastly, a core aspect of EI is the ability to monitor feelings and emotions of others, to discriminate among them, and then use this information to guide actions.Another similarity lies between EI and transformational leadership as related to actions of initiating, managing and leading change within an organization. Being a change catalyst is an important social competency in the EI model, and is a core process for successful transformational leaders. Situational leadership is not similar in this way, although a situational leader may need to initiate and manage change in how they lead followers, depending on the situation.EI, transformational leadership and situational leadership are all similar in requiring the leader to have some level of social competency and/or awareness of how to influence others. The methodology of how this is achieved is explained as slightly different for each of these models. EI model indicates that the leader simply has to possess a social competency skill that relates to influencing others. Transformational leadership relies on charisma and communication of vision to influence others. And, situational leadership will vary their influencing styles depending on the need to tell, sell, participate or delegate, depending on the situation.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

33 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5An interesting relationship between trait theory, transformational leadership and emotional intelligence has recently been reported (Rubin, Munz & Boomer, 2005). The study evaluated aspects of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. There were five hypotheses tested in the study including whether leader emotion recognition, agreeableness, extraversion, and positive affectivity were positively associated with transformational leadership behavior. Also, an assessment of whether leader extraversion (a trait) moderated the relationship of emotion recognition and transformational leadership behaviors was evaluated.A total of 145 leaders met the inclusion criteria and took part in the study (Rubin, Munz & Boomer, 2005). In turn, a total of 480 subordinates participated. Each group completed a group-specific survey. The subordinates rated their direct leader using a survey that consisted of 22 items that pertained to the following 6 dimensions: a) articulating a vision, b) providing a role model, d) communicating high performance expectations, d) providing individualized support, e) fostering the acceptance of group goals, and f) providing intellectual stimulation. Overall the study results supported that personality traits of agreeableness and positive affectivity predict transformational leadership behavior. Extraversion did not predict transformational leadership behavior. Emotion recognition was positively related to transformational leadership behavior (Rubin et al., 2005)Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

34 The High Impact Leadership Model™As a result of extensive evaluation and synthesis of a variety of leadership behaviors displayed by ‘best leaders’ from a variety of industries, organizations and positions the High Impact Leadership Model™ (figure 2) was proposed by the Linkage Consulting Research Team, which included Professor Warren Bennis, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California (Linkage, 2003). The model summarizes five leadership capabilities (i.e. competencies), five leadership skills, and five leadership responsibilities. The model describes key areas that were felt to best describe components that an individual leader must possess to be a more effective.The five specific leadership competencies defined in the High Impact Leadership Model™ are defined as focused drive, emotional intelligence, trusted influence, conceptual thinking and systems thinking (Linkage, 2003). Each leadership competency is comprised of two leadership components. Focused drive, for example, is comprised of ‘focus’ and ‘drive’. Focus is defined as “the ability to identify an important goal or vision and to channel efforts at specific targets that support that goal/vision” (Linkage, 2003, p.7). Drive is defined as “the ability to persevere, sacrifice (when necessary), and expend high degrees of energy to reach high levels of performance” (Linkage, 2003, p.7)Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

36 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Likewise, emotional intelligence is comprised of perception and emotional maturity. Trusted influence is comprised of commitment and empowerment. Conceptual thinking is comprised of innovation and big picture thinking. And, lastly, system thinking is comprised of process orientation and mental discipline (Linkage, 2003). The model also includes five leadership skills (change management, coaching/mentoring, communication, negotiation, and problem solving) and defines five leadership responsibilities (creating results, creating the vision, creating the organization, creating the people of the future, and creating the knowledge of the future).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

37 Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire The Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is another example of a leadership measurement tool. The MLQ was developed in the mid 1980’s to evaluate the latent variables of the Multifactor Leadership Theory (Avolio & Bass, 1991 as cited in Antonakis, Avolio, & Sivasubramaniam, 2003). This theory was first proposed by Bass as a result of data he collected from surveys completed by 198 US Army military officers who were rating their superior officers using an early form of the MLQ (Bass, 1985 as cited in Avolio, Bass & Jung, 1999). From this research he identified six factors that included three transformational factors (referred to as charismatic-inspirational, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration), two transactional factors (referred to as contingent reward and management-by-exception) and a passive-avoidant factor (also referred to as laissez-faire).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

38 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The MLQ was used in a study reported in 1992 to investigate self versus other agreement on leadership perceptions (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992). The purposes of this research were to investigate the extent that individuals inflated their self-ratings of leadership, as well as to explore contributory factors to inflated self-ratings of leadership and how self awareness affects the degree of relationship between the leader behavior and performance outcome. In this study two different samples were used. The first sample was comprised of 91 student leaders who were in training at the United States Naval Academy; of whom only 8 were female. A total of 1145 subordinate ratings and 11 superior ratings for these leaders were analyzed for this study in addition to the leader’s self-assessment. The second sample was comprised of 158 male, naval officer leaders who were rated by 793 subordinates (90% of whom were male). Leaders were assigned to one of three agreement groups (under-estimator, over-estimator or agreement) relative to the differences between their ratings and the ratings of their subordinates, and separately of their managers for sample 1. Deviations from the mean difference between the self versus other ratings was used to assign the leader to one of the three agreement groups. Leaders whose difference scores were within one-half standard deviation of the mean were deemed to be ‘in agreement’; whereas over-estimators were those whose scores were higher than one-half standard deviation of the mean and likewise under-estimators were those whose scores were lower than one-half standard deviation from the mean.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

39 Factors That Influence Self and Other Ratings Because 360-degree leadership measures rely heavily on subjective assessments of self and other reporting, it is important to consider factors that may adversely influence such ratings. Self-reports for 360-degree assessments require higher-order cognitive processing of recall, weighting, inference, prediction, interpretation and evaluation (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986). Thus, while responding to such an instrument, the individual is working at “a fairly high level of abstraction” (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986, p. 533) and is essentially providing a summary judgment that entails many endpoints.Another well established point of view that emerges from the literature argues that different raters will observe different dimensions of leadership and therefore, the congruence between ratings may differ. Further, it has been suggested that due to the different relationships and greater frequency of opportunities for some raters to observe the leader than others, one might expect higher concordance for self-subordinate than self-supervisor, self-peer or peer-supervisor. That being said, however, it has been proposed that a rating scale that is well defined and behaviorally based is likely to show agreement between different raters (Harris & Schaubroeck, 1988). Meta-analyses that evaluated congruence of 360-degree feedback have found that ratings by supervisors, direct reports and peers are similar to each other while they are usually slightly less positive than the rating that individuals give themselves (Warr & Bourne, 1999). Also, research has found that self versus other observer differences in ratings have been shown to be stable over time (Nilsen & Campbell, 1993).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

40 Gender, Leadership and 360-degree Leadership Assessment Van Velsor, Taylor and Leslie (1993, p. 249) concluded that “contrary to common belief, our research shows that women are not more likely to underrate their own skills on measures of leadership competency”. This seminal work is frequently referenced as the first evidence that women are not more likely to underrate their own skills. The research literature is replete with statements inferring that there are numerous consistent findings that women tend to underrate themselves as compared to others ratings (e.g. peers) in the area of leadership (e.g., Alimo-Metcalfe, 1998; Fletcher 1999; Van Velsor, Taylor, & Leslie, 1993) despite the fact that there are only a few studies that actual report data evaluating gender differences in self-assessment of any kind. Evidence that women underrate themselves on leadership effectiveness is, in fact, absent from the literature.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

41 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5There is evidence that female leaders’ style of leadership is different than male leaders. Rosener (1990) found that men tend to use reward and punishment as means to influence performance. Women leaders, however, tend to use a more interactive leadership style that encompasses sharing information and power. Subsequently, several studies have found that women tend to be more transformational in their leadership style than men (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996; Bass & Avolio, 1994)So much of early leadership theory development, especially pertaining to the trait, skill and behavioral approaches, was based on business models that were highly predominantly influenced by the white, male leaders. Even today, nearly 50 years after leadership theory development began in earnest, leadership and managerial roles and tasks continue to be defined from a masculine gender perspective. Leadership research literature has not adequately established whether women leaders do or do not underrate their own skills on measures of leadership. Thus, Van Velsor, Taylor and Leslie’s (1993) examination of this issue, while suggesting that women do not underrate their own skills and competencies, needs to be confirmed.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

42 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5It is important to develop leadership theories that are not biased with regard to gender, or other characteristics (e.g. race, culture). After all, women leaders and managers are not as novel in the workplace as they may have been even 15 years ago, with approximately 40% of all managers in US firms being women (Carr-Ruffino, 2003). Also, developing theories to further examine and understand sources and effects of bias is important.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

43 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Population Sample The population for this study comes from an existing, archived dataset that included 1153 female leaders from a variety of business sectors that had survey data from8141 other-raters (peers, direct reports, managers and non-designated others) who had completed a self-rating of the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI™) between late 2001 and August In this dataset, there were 862 female leaders that had at least one self-evaluation and one evaluation by another rater. Since this represented a sample population of this dataset, the analysis included data from all 862 female leaders. It was estimated, however, that a sample of at least 385 leaders would be needed to evaluate concordance of the agreement categories with 95% confidence.Research InstrumentThe data analyzed in this study were from female leaders from various business sectors who completed self-examinations using the Leadership Assessment Instrument™ as well as received 360-degree feedback as part of a leadership development course conducted by staff from Linkage between late 2001 and August This instrument was selected since it is a validated instrument, and measures both competency and skill aspects of leadership. Furthermore, from a convenience standpoint, a dataset from a large group of female leaders was available for analysis. Since the literature has previously included analyses of leadership instruments developed and collected predominantly from males (e.g. Bass & Yammarino, 1991), in order to address the research questions proposed a dataset that included a large representative sample from female leaders was needed. The Leadership Assessment Instrument™ (LAI)The LAI was developed to evaluate and quantify the personal characteristics essential to leadership as defined by the High Impact Leadership Model™ (Linkage, 2003). The intended purpose of the instrument is to provide multi-rater feedback on the frequency that the leader and others perceive the leader to display particular leadership competencies and skills. The LAI was developed from an item pool of various leadership competencies and competencies that were rated for their criticality and importance by content experts with 5 to 20 years of leadership expertise (Linkage Consulting Research Team, 1998). It was from this content validity work that the initial version of the LAI was created. The instrument was subsequently revised after further validation studies using a dataset comprised of 2243 data points (data from 303 individuals designated by their company as someone who was a current or high-potential leader, and data from 1940 other raters, including peers, direct reports and managers, who evaluated these 303 leaders).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

44 (females with self -rating and at least one rating by another rater) Main FindingsSamples PopulationN = 3580 Male or GenderunidentifiedN = 2427Female N = 1153(females with self -rating and at least one rating by another rater)N = 862Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

45 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The first research question was to ascertain whether female leaders rated their overall leadership competency and skill (LAI overall) differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers or others rated their overall leadership.This assessment was made by comparing the mean LAI overall score (combination of competency and skill scores) for each pair of raters, and then comparing these mean score differences for significance. A difference (p<0.0001) was observed between leaders and each of the types of raters, with the leaders always having a lower mean overall score than the other rater types (table 3). The leaders mean LAI overall score was 3.6, compared to 3.9, 3.8,3.7 and 3.9 for direct reports, managers, peers and non-designated other raters, respectively.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

46 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The second research question was to ascertain whether female leaders rated their leadership competency differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers or others rated their leadership competency.This assessment was made by comparing the mean score for the 50 competency questions on the LAI for each pair of raters, and then comparing the competency mean score differences for significance. A difference (p<0.0001) was observed between leaders and each of the types of raters, with the leaders always having a lower mean LAI competency score than the other rater types. The leaders mean LAI competency score was 3.6, compared to 3.9, 3.8, 3.7 and 3.9 for direct reports, managers, peers and other raters, respectively. These mean scores were identical to the mean LAI overall scores.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

47 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The third research question was to ascertain whether female leaders rated their leadership skills differently than how their direct reports, peers, managers or others rated their leadership skills.This assessment was made by comparing the mean score for the 25 skill questions on the LAI for each pair of raters, and then comparing the skill mean score differences for significance. A difference (p<0.0001) was observed between leaders and each of the types of raters with the leaders always having a lower mean skill score than the other rater types. The leaders mean LAI skill score was 3.5, compared to 3.8, 3.7, 3.6 and 3.8 for direct reports, managers, peers and other raters, respectively. These mean scores were lower than the mean LAI overall and mean LAI competency scores.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

48 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5An additional analysis was performed whereby the sample population of leaders was characterized as accurate raters, under raters or over raters based on the mean paired difference for the leader versus all other raters for their LAI skill ratings. Results from this analysis are presented in table 8. Most leaders (81.8%) were not under raters, but were accurate raters (73.1%) or over raters (8.7%). For the 26.9% of leaders who were not accurate raters, a difference (p<0.0001) for more under-raters (18.2%) than over raters was found. Table 8. Accuracy of female leader ratings for LAI skill ratingsWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

50 Bank Drug Educ Govt HSP Ins Meds N 27 N75 N 57 N 63 N 40 N 216 N 76The last research question was to ascertain whether female leaders from different business sectors rated their overall leadership differently than how all others providing 360-degree feedback rated their overall leadership.The business sector was unknown for 166 leaders. Thus, a business sector was assigned for a total of 696 (80.7%) of the leaders. A total of 50 different business sectors were identified. Most sectors, however, had less than ten leaders represented. There were a total of seven business sectors that had 20 or more leaders within a given sector. These included banking (N=27), drug (N=75), education (Ed) (N=57), government (Govt) (N=63), health service plans (HSP) (N=40), insurance (ins) (N=216), and medical supplies (MedS) (N=76).Mean scores for the LAI overall, LAI competency and LAI skill scores from leaders in these business sectors are presented in table 9. The mean LAI competency scores were higher than the mean LAI skill scores within each of these business sectors except for the insurance sector (mean scores were the same). The mean LAI competency score was the same as the mean LAI overall score for most of the leaders in these sectors, with the exception of the banking sector. In this case, the mean LAI competency score was higher than the mean LAI overall and mean LAI skill scores.Bank Drug Educ Govt HSP Ins MedsN N N N N N N 76Table 9. Overall score CompetencySkillWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

51 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The final exploratory analysis was an evaluation of the rating accuracy of the female leaders for these seven business sectors versus all of their other raters (direct reports, managers, peers and others, combined). As was done with the entire sample population as described above, these female leaders were characterized as accurate raters, under-raters or over-raters based on the mean paired difference for the leader versus all other raters for the mean LAI overall score. Results from this analysis are presented in table 10. For all sectors, 86.1% or more of leaders were categorized as accurate raters. When inaccurate rating did occur, however, the leader was typically categorized more often as under-rating. Indeed, no leaders in the banking, drug, education, or health service plan sectors were categorized as over raters. Table 10. Accuracy of LAI overall ratings for female leaders from seven differentbusiness sectorsWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

53 Brief Summary of Data FindingsThe current research study found that the mean ratings by the leaders were less than any of the other rater types (p<0.001). However, the differences in mean scores between raters and leaders were very small. The number of female leaders in the available sample population (N=862) far exceeded the estimated sample size of at least 385 leaders that would be needed to evaluate concordance of the agreement categories with 95% confidence. The very large sample size afforded the opportunity to detect small differences between groups..Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

54 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Further evaluation to ascertain the meaningfulness of the small differences was done.In the study reported herein, the methodology used to make this assessment was to evaluate the paired mean score difference between leaders and the other raters so that statistical analysis could be utilized. If the paired mean score difference was <+1 to >-1, then the leader was categorized as an ‘accurate-rater’. If the difference was < -1, then the leader was categorized as an ‘under-rater’. If the difference was > 1, then the leader was categorized an ‘over-rater’. The between rater category assessments was compared for concordance using the Sign test. A P-value < 0.05 was considered significant.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

55 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5In this study, the vast majority of female leaders (approximately 84%) were not under raters. Most were, in fact, accurate raters (76.7%) compared to how others rated them. This was true for their accuracy in rating their overall leadership (76.7%), as well as separately for their leadership competency (77.6%) and leadership skills (73.1%)Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

56 Interpretive Meaning of Data Results In prior research, leaders who are accurate self-reporters consistently have been found to be more successful leaders than those who are not accurate self-reporters, regardless of whether they under- or over-rate themselves as leaders (Yammarino & Atwater, 1993). Historically, the literature has been consistent in finding that subordinate’s rating of leaders predicts future performance (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Bass & Yammarino, 1991). The data from this study suggests that for most female leaders there are not large differences between how others and the leader rate the leader’s leadership skills and competencies. However, when differences occurred between female leaders and their direct reports it was influenced more by differences in perception of leadership skills than leadership competencies. The mean between group (leader-direct report) difference for leadership skill was -0.3 compared to only -0.1 for leadership competency. This data suggests that direct reports are more confident in female leaders’ leadership skills (i.e., change management, coaching/mentoring, communication, negotiation and problem solving) than the leaders are of themselves. It is worth noting that the mean (median) LAI skill score by direct-report ratings was quite high (3.8 (3.9) for these leaders. These scores suggest that from the perspective of the direct-report, these female leaders frequently displayed the leadership skills evaluated in this studyWomen leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

57 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5Across business sectors, the mean LAI overall, LAI competency and LAI skill scores across the business sector leaders was very consistent with most sectors having a mean score between 3.4 and 3.7. Also, a very high percentage of these leaders were accurate raters.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

58 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5RecommendationsIncreasingly women are making up a larger percentage of management leaders within many US organizations. Results from this study provide evidence to refute the current negative myth perpetuated in the literature that female leaders are not accurately self-reporting on their leadership skills and competencies. Awareness of these data may help influence a more positive perception of female leaders in today's business environment. This may in turn influence upward mobility and opportunities for future female leaders.The next step, however, is to confirm the findings of Yammarino and Atwater (1993) using a dataset comprised predominantly or solely of female leaders. As noted earlier, in their study of predominantly male leaders, accurate self-reporting was associated with more effective job-relevant decision making. It is recommended that additional research evaluating the relationship of self-reporting accuracy and job performance for female leaders also be conducted to confirm the findings.As predicted, analysis of a more contemporary dataset has confirmed that female leaders do not frequently under-rate their leadership behaviors and skills. Results from this study confirm that female leaders have good self-awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. This information needs to be shared with male and female business leaders so as to begin to change business leaders perceptions regarding the strength of female leaders.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

59 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5ConclusionsOverall, this study provides objective evidence that refutes a ‘common belief’ that most female leaders underrate their performance. In this regard, the study substantiates the conclusions of Van Velsor, Taylor and Leslie (1999) who also found congruence in ratings between female leaders and their direct reports. From this study we can conclude that most female leaders have good self-awareness of their overall leadership, their leadership competency and their leadership skills. This study is the first, however, to provide objective evidence that the minority of female leaders who are not accurate raters tend to under-rate, rather than over-rate, their performance as leaders.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

60 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5These results help to establish that female leaders in today’s business environment have good awareness of themselves as leaders, as evidenced by the high percentage of female leaders who accurately rated themselves compares to how others rated them. This data adds substantially to the literature in providing objective evidence that the vast majority of female leaders do not underrate themselves as leaders. Previous exploration of congruence between self (leaders) and other ratings for 360-degree feedback has focused primarily on self peer and self manager evaluations (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Bass & Yammarino, 1991; Brutus, Fleenor & London, 1998; Nowack, 1997). This study evaluated these same relationships, as well as self direct reports (subordinates) and self other reports for 360-degree feedback congruence.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

61 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The study of female leadership is an important topic today. There have been significant changes in not only the percentages of women in the work force, but also the percentage of female business leaders over the last few decades. Despite these advancements, there continues to be a shortage of female leaders represented at the highest levels within organizations (Helfat, Harris & Wolfson, 2006; Hillman, Shropshire & Cannella, 2007). Bass and Yammarino (1991), as well as Atwater and Yammarino (1992), were among the first to establish 360-degree feedback as a surrogate for leadership performance. It is unclear exactly why the business literature is replete with inference that female leaders underrate their performance as leaders, especially when there isn’t objective data to substantiate these claims. These reports may contribute to biased views that female leaders are not likely to be effective leaders.Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5

62 Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5The overarching focus that business needs to consider in today’s global, fast-paced environment is clear. “Success in today’s highly competitive marketplace calls for organizations to make best use of the talent available to them. To do this they need to identify, develop, encourage, and promote the most effective managers [leaders], regardless of sex” (Powell, 1990, p. 74). Based on the contemporary, 360-degree feedback data evaluated in this study, there is alignment regarding leadership skills and competencies between female leaders and their colleagues (i.e. their peers, subordinates, managers and other non-designated raters).Women leaders underrate their skills...wk 5